John 3:1-3, 7
Ye Must Be Born Again
John 3:1 There was a man of the Pharisees, named
Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:
2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto
him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come
from God: for no man can do these miracles that
thou doest, except God be with him.
3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily,
verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born
again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
John 3:7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye
must be born again.
Inside of those verses resides five of the most important words in
the English language, "Ye must be born again." Let’s look at that
phrase with three thoughts.
I. \\#1\\ The MAN - Nicodemus - Two men are mentioned in our text,
one the God-man, the other a mortal man named Nicodemus.
A. \\#1\\ Nicodemus was a Jew.
1. Although not listed in the text, we note this of him.
2. Judaism was his religion. This gives us an understanding
of his basic religious beliefs.
a. Nicodemus worshipped only one God.
(1) Monotheism
(a) "mono" in Greek means one.
(b) "theistic" speaks of your belief system.
(c) Nicodemus’ belief system was that there was
just one God.
(2) Except for the Jews, the world believed in gods—
many, many gods.
b. Nicodemus knew that God was Jehovah.
(1) Except for the Jews, the world believed that
almost anything might be a god.
(a) They worshipped the stars, planets, and
the moon.
(b) They worshipped animals, seasons, even
people.
(c) They worshipped imaginary beings: the god
of war, the god of fertility, the god of
love.
(2) The Jews knew who their God was.
c. Nicodemus knew what sin was.
(1) All that the other religions could do was guess.
(2) The problem was and is that when we guess, we are
basing our guess on what we think is good and
bad.
(3) Nicodemus did not do that.
(a) He had a Book, the Bible, given by God that
told him what was right and wrong.
(b) If the Book said it was wrong, it was sin.
(c) If the Book did not say it was wrong, it was
not sin.
d. Nicodemus knew what atonement and redemption were.
(1) Again, everyone else had to guess what to do to
have their sins forgiven, and they guessed very
poorly.
(2) Some, like Cain, guessed God would want crops.
(a) They supposed that if it was precious to
them, it would also be precious to their
gods.
(b) Others, with the same false reasoning.
(3) Nicodemus did not have to guess.
(a) God told him what to do for atonement.
(b) Nicodemus knew and brought an animal
sacrifice and offered it to God.
3. All of this is good, but we also know that Nicodemus
NEEDED MORE.
a. As good as his religion was, it was still too weak to
help him.
Romans 8:3 For what the law could not do, in
that it was weak through the flesh, God sending
his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh,
and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
b. The Bible says that the Jew’s religion, the only
religion given by God and with any truth to it all,
was too weak to help overcome the problems of the
flesh.
(1) Nicodemus needed more than a book of "do"s and
"don’t"s.
(2) He needed more than sheep, bulls, and bloody
altars.
(3) He needed more than an earthly priest.
(4) And so do we.
B. Nicodemus was a Pharisee.
1. The Pharisees were a subset or branch of Judaism that he
followed.
2. The word Pharisee means "separate," which in itself tells
us that they believed that holiness requires living a
separated or different type of life than the world lives.
a. As a rule, we don’t think much of the Pharisees
because we see the corrupt Pharisees who slew the
Savior.
b. Yet, their purpose and teachings were mostly sound.
3. Nicodemus was a Pharisee and represented the good, holy,
righteous Pharisees that were a part of that group.
a. Yet, Nicodemus needed to BE more than his good.
b. He needed to BE more than religious, and honest, and
fair.
c. And so do we.
C. Nicodemus was a ruler of the Jews.
1. That term is applied to the Sanhedrin court.
2. The Sanhedrin were not just religious in nature but
judicial.
a. The Sanhedrin were the equivalent of our Supreme
Court.
b. It was the highest court in the land of Israel.
3. Nicodemus would have had to have been somewhat smart to
sit on this court.
a. Nicodemus was one of the 71 men who comprised this
court, making decisions on the cases brought to them
by lower city courts.
b. These lower court decisions were appealed to the
Sanhedrin for a "second opinion."
c. This goes back to \\#Numbers 16:1-17\\, where God had
Moses appoint 70 men (Moses being the 71st) to help
govern Israel.
4. Nicodemus, to sit on this bench, would also need to be a
man of compassion and fairness.
a. But Nicodemus needed to DO more.
b. He needed to do more than to show compassion,
justice, fairness, and equality.
c He, like us, needed to DO more!
D. For all that Nicodemus was, he was still lost!!
1. Nicodemus needed something more than he had!
2. He needed to be born again.
3. You may be here today just as religious, just as
important, just as educated, just as intelligent as
Nicodemus, but if you have not had a person experience
with Jesus Christ, you too are still lacking!
II. \\#3, 7\\ The MUST - YE MUST BE BORN AGAIN
A. Jesus knew what Nicodemus needed, and told him straight out in
verse 3 and making it even plainer in verse 7.
John 3:7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye
must be born again.
B. Jesus said that what Nicodemus needed was to be "born again."
1. That is the term, and this is the first time this term was
ever used.
2. Jesus coined the term as a picture to teach Nicodemus what
he needed.
3 What Nicodemus needed, you and I also need.
4. As Nicodemus needed to be born again, so you and I must be
born again.
5. Let’s take that term a part.
C. What was Jesus saying that Nicodemus (and we) need?
1. Jesus was saying that Nicodemus needed to be "born."
a. What does that mean?
b. How can a person be born who has already been born?
c. It meant that Nicodemus needed life.
(1) It goes without saying that no one is living who
has not been born.
(2) Conception and birth are the beginnings of life.
(a) Conception is THE point where life begins.
(b) Birth is the point where independent,
autonomous life begins.
d. So, no one is truly living who has not been born
again.
(1) They may be existing, but they are not living.
John 3:36 He that believeth on the Son hath
everlasting life: and he that believeth not the
Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God
abideth on him.
(2) John said that we either have eternal life, or we
have no life at all!
(a) I understand that most lost people would
disagree with that.
(b) They think what they have is life.
i. They have good days and bad.
ii. They have known laughter and tears.
iii. They have seen both the depravity of
man and his goodness, man doing so
bad that that it horrified them, and
man doing things so good that it made
them believe in miracles.
(c) I won’t deny that and God was not saying
that you haven’t.
(3) But you have NOT known life with God.
(a) Like a person born deaf or blind, you have
adapted to what you have.
(b) You have carved out a niche for yourself in
a hard world and with some pride, you have
chosen to look on the bright side of what
you have instead of the dark side of what
you don’t.
(c) But there is a God who loves you and wants
to have a "LIFE" with you.
(d) He is the One who has blessed you, giving
you strength, soundness of mind, friends,
family, opportunities, even life itself.
(e) And while you may be impressed with the life
you have today, God knows what your future
holds, and He knows you can’t make it
without Him.
(f) You may ask, "Well, why hasn’t He told me
all of this before? Why is He just now
reaching out to me?"
i. He is not just "now" reaching out to
you, but our condition of being born
deaf and blind has made it
impossible for us to hear or see
what He has been doing.
ii. He has been reaching out to us every
day in a hundred different ways, but
you could not see or hear Him; or if
you did, you brushed it off as a
coincidence or your conscience.
iii. So today, He sent me to you and you
here so that you could hear with
your own two ears, that "you must be
born."
iv, You need life.
2. Nicodemus needed an "again."
a. That meant that Nicodemus needed a new beginning.
b. Every child is born to a new beginning—no past, no
history, no failures.
c. Nicodemus had done the same thing you and I have done.
(1) He ruined the life he had!
(2) The sinful decisions we make are wrong decisions.
(a) They cause us to grieve God. That might not
bother you much right now, but it should!
(b) They cause us to hurt others.
(c) They cause us to hurt ourselves.
(3) Many have wished they could just start all over!
(4) When we are born again, we do!
(5) Everything in past with God is erased, and
everything we were with ourselves and others is
changed.
(6) For most of us, it will not happen all at once;
but in time, even the ones we have hurt the most
will see that we are NOT the same person.
(7) God described what the new birth does in several
Bible verses.
Ezekiel 36:26 A new heart also will I give you,
and a new spirit will I put within you: and I
will take away the stony heart out of your flesh,
and I will give you an heart of flesh.
2Cor 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he
is a new creature: old things are passed away;
behold, all things are become new.
III. The MEANS \\#4-18\\
A. Like most adults, Nicodemus understood the earthly aspect of
a child’s birth, but he could not understand what Jesus
meant.
B. So he asked. (The sign of an intelligent fellow is not just
what he knows, but what he does when he doesn’t know
something. This smart fellow asked!)
John 3:4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man
be born when he is old? can he enter the second
time into his mother’s womb, and be born?
John 3:9 Nicodemus answered and said unto him,
How can these things be?
C. Jesus answered him.
John 3:8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and
thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not
tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so
is every one that is born of the Spirit.
1. Jesus’ answer is not the simplest and easiest answer to
understand.
2. The reason why is because it is on a whole other plane of
existence, a spiritual plane.
a. Nicodemus probably did not know much about the Holy
Spirit or the Holy Ghost, but you probably do.
b. The Holy Spirit is God like the Father is God and like
Jesus is God.
(1) They are not three different gods but One.
(2) But that is a topic for another day.
3. Right now, you just need to understand two things.
a. It is the Holy Spirit of God that causes you to be
born again.
(1) There is no physical womb for you to climb
inside.
(2) But like the womb does most of the work in
producing a baby, so the Holy Spirit does most
of the work in producing a Christian.
b. The Holy Spirit is like the wind.
(1) And I mean by that a gentle wind—not some of
Alabama’s tornadic winds.
(2) You and I cannot see the Holy Spirit, but like a
gentle wind on a warm day, you can feel His
presence and sweeps past your thoughts and
troubles to speak directly to your soul.
(3) I pray that He is blowing on your soul right now.
(a) Showing you that you are sinner; but at the
same time, showering you with the love of
Jesus.
(b) God wants us to understand we are sinners so
that we will seek His forgiveness.
(c) I pray that is what He is doing right now.
D. And there are two things that you need to do if the Holy
Spirit of God is blowing across your soul today.
1. These two things are what is necessary on your part to
experience the new birth.
a. You must believe.
b. You must repent.
2. If the Holy Spirit has stirred you today, please do not
put Him off!
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